February 2010 saw my return to the Three Valleys (Courchevel, Meribel and Van Thorens) in France; this time, with seven other lads - Steve N, Alan, Scottish, Ewart, Mike, Ian and John. All but two (John and Ian) are snowboarders, and we stayed in a fantastic chalet in Les Allues, just outside Meribel. Conditions were great, and whilst it didn't snow until the last day, the snow on the piste was perfect.
So on day one it was just to get used to it all again, sticking around Meribel and trying some old familiar runs. My skill has improved a fair bit since my last visit so that, combined with knowing the runs helped get my confidence back pretty much straight away.
Courchevel was the next day and down to La Tania (obviously taking the scenic Plan Fontaine run). The next day was spent over in Le Menuires, which I believe is the 'fourth' valley! Some pretty good runs around the resort.
During this holiday, I finally made it over to Val Thorens, which I hadn't done a couple of years back. I was out on my own this day as I wanted to get an early start as there would be maybe over an hour of traversing across Meribel and Le Menuires before gettin to Val Thorens. And it was worth it! I'd say that the best runs on the valleys are in Val Thorens. It's not anywhere near as pretty as Courchevel and La Tania, but the runs are fantastic and really improved confidence and skill, not to mention hitting some pretty high speeds. Went to one of the highest points in the Three Valleys (Le Coq) for some amazing views!
The next day was a return to Courchevel with most of the lads, to go further down towards 1550 and La Tania again. Did a great jump down Verdons, but then disaster struck about 15 minutes later when I hit a ridge at high speed going down to the lift at the end of afternoon to return to Meribel! Ironically, after buying elbow pads the day before, I twisted an ankle, so had to painstakingly get down towards Meribel before relunctantly taking the gondola down to the resort :-( Oh well! And so ends the snowboarding for me this holiday. Still, I only missed out on the last day, which was a whiteout anyway, and at least it was down to injury rather than beer ;-)
